Hebrew verb · H7270
רָגַל
ragalraw-gal'
to spy
25 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: râgal
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H7270is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 9 of 39Old Testament books
- 20spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H7270
to walk along; but only in specifically, applications, to reconnoiter, to be atale-bearer (i.e. slander); to lead about
The King James renders it: backbite, search, slander, (e-) spy (out), teach to go, view.
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
ragal is rendered "to spy". It stands 25 times in the Hebrew text, across nine books.
- Seven of the uses stand in Genesis, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 42:9Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”
- The Greek text spells it twenty different ways.
The first use
Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”
Genesis 42:9מְרַגְּלִ֣ים
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
Seven of the word's twenty-five uses are in Genesis.
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- spies9
- to spy out6
- and they spied out2
- who had spied out2
- and he has slandered1
- and spy out1
- and to spy on it1
- and to spy out1
- he takes slander1
- like spy out1
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
All 25, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
20 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- לְרַגֵּ֣ל3
- וַֽיְרַגְּל֖וּ2
- מְרַגְּלִים֙2
- מְרַגְּלִֽים׃2
- הַֽמְרַגְּלִ֤ים1
- הַֽמְרַגְּלִ֗ים1
- וַיְרַגֵּ֣ל1
- וּלְרַגֵּל֙1
- וּלְרַגְּלָ֣הּ1
- וְרַגְּל֣וּ1
- כִּֽמְרַגְּלִ֖ים1
- לְרַגֵּ֥ל1
and 8 more spellings in the ledger below.
The grammar of each form
- verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine plural9HVprmpa
- preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)6HR/Vpcc
- Hc/Vpw3mp2Hc/Vpw3mp
- the definite article (“the”) + verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine plural2HTd/Vprmpa
- conjunction (“and”) + preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)1HC/R/Vpcc
- conjunction (“and”) + preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singular1HC/R/Vpcc/Sp3fs
- conjunction (“and”) + verb · intensive (piel), command · 2nd person masculine plural1HC/Vpv2mp
- Hc/Vpw3ms1Hc/Vpw3ms
- preposition + verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine plural1HR/Vprmpa
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVqp3ms
Genesis
seven uses
Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”
- מְרַגְּלִ֣יםmeragelimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: spies
We are all sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”
- מְרַגְּלִֽים׃meragelimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: spies
Then Joseph declared, “Just as I said, you are spies!
- מְרַגְּלִ֥יםmeragelimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: spies
Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be confined so that the truth of your words may be tested. If they are untrue, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”
- מְרַגְּלִ֖יםmeragelimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: spies
“The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country.
- כִּֽמְרַגְּלִ֖יםkimragelimpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: like spy out
But we told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies.
- מְרַגְּלִֽים׃meragelimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: spies
But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.’”
- מְרַגְּלִים֙meragelimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: spies
Numbers
one use
After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
- לְרַגֵּ֣לleragelpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
Deuteronomy
one use
They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied out the land.
- וַֽיְרַגְּל֖וּvayrageluHc/Vpw3mptagged: and they spied out
Joshua
seven uses
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
- מְרַגְּלִים֙meragelimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: spies
Meanwhile, Joshua told the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the house of the prostitute and bring out the woman and all who are with her, just as you promised her.”
- הַֽמְרַגְּלִ֤יםhamragelimthe definite article (“the”) + verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: who had spied out
So the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.
- הַֽמְרַגְּלִ֗יםhamragelimthe definite article (“the”) + verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: who had spied out
And Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her father’s household and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. So she has lived among the Israelites to this day.
- לְרַגֵּ֥לleragelpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
Meanwhile, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
- וְרַגְּל֣וּverageluconjunction (“and”) + verb · intensive (piel), command · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: and spy out
- וַֽיְרַגְּל֖וּvayrageluHc/Vpw3mptagged: and they spied out
I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back to him an honest report.
- לְרַגֵּ֣לleragelpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
Judges
three uses
So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.
- לְרַגֵּ֤לleragelpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”
- לְרַגֵּל֮leragelpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went inside and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred armed men.
- לְרַגֵּ֣לleragelpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
1 Samuel
one use
David sent out spies to verify that Saul had arrived.
- מְרַגְּלִ֑יםmeragelimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: spies
2 Samuel
three uses
the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Has not David instead sent his servants to explore the city, spy it out, and overthrow it?”
- וּלְרַגְּלָ֣הּuleragelahconjunction (“and”) + preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: and to spy on it
Then Absalom sent spies throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’”
- מְרַגְּלִ֔יםmeragelimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: spies
and he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. Yet my lord the king is like the angel of God, so do what is good in your eyes.
- וַיְרַגֵּ֣לvayragelHc/Vpw3mstagged: and he has slandered
1 Chronicles
one use
the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Have not his servants come to you to explore the land, spy it out, and overthrow it?”
- וּלְרַגֵּל֙uleragelconjunction (“and”) + preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: and to spy out
Psalms
one use
who has no slander on his tongue, who does no harm to his neighbor, who casts no scorn on his friend,
- רָגַ֨ל׀ragalverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he takes slander
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.